STARS OF WAR
by Rhymes of the Renegades
Summary: When the War for Cybertron left Earth behind, the Autobots were forced to leave their human friends and return to the stars. Five years later, the humans followed them. But the course of war has scattered the Cybertronians across the galaxy. Jack, Miko, and Raf will have to chase rumors of their friends one planet to another. And hope they find the Autobots before the Decepticons.
1. Prologue

**First story in a long while, tried to get all the characters right on point with their personalities. This takes place in the Prime show some time after** _ **The Human Factor**_ **with all the events from** _ **Legacy**_ **on never happening. Will be a time skip of several years after this.**

 **I don't own anything other than some OCs that will come later.**

The sky over Jasper Nevada was clear and blue, the winds calm and the sun shining. It would be the perfect day for a rocket launch, and most people would see the fair weather as a reason to be cheerful. Jack wasn't moved by it. Since receiving the news that the Autobots were leaving, he just hadn't been in the mood to be happy.

"So," he turned to face Arcee, as they both stood waiting on the ground floor of Omega One, "this is really it. This is . . . goodbye."

"Orders are orders Jack" Arcee was keeping up a deceptively calm demeanor. "All the signs say that the Decepticons have left earth, and we have to follow."

Less than a month ago a Decepticon signal had been detected coming from deep space. Ratchet's computer's were not designed to comprehend the Cons code algorithms, but nevertheless the doctor had been able to decipher just a few of the words. Wreck, energon, relic, ready. The message also included a set of coordinates that had only been partially decoded, but pointed to a solar system lightyears away from Earth.

The Con ship _Nemesis_ had appeared on sensors shortly afterward, flying to a position beyond the dark side of the moon. Agent Fowler's people had scrambled human satellites until they could get a view of their activity, and were just quick enough to get an image of the Con ship departing for through a spacebridge, right before the giant ring began an automated disintegration.

The Decepticons had left Earth.

So here they were, on the last mission that would ever be launched from Omega One, as Team Prime made their final preparations to depart as well.

"This is completely _whack_!" Miko stomped her foot on the floor in frustration. "You guys can't _leave_ , not just like that! We still have so much we have to do! I never got to go to another planet! We still need to have an all night monster movie marathon!" She rounded on her sheepish looking guardian, "Bulkhead was supposed to come visit Tokyo with me, he PROMISED!"

"Ah Miko," the big Bot looked like he wanted to pick the girl up and squeeze her to his chest. "I don't want to do this, none of us do. But we don't have any choice."

"Uh, you could decide to stay," Miko crossed her arms and turned away.

"But the Cons won't just be off on some interstellar vacation," Agent Fowlers called down from where he had been going over readings on one of the bases platforms. "They must have gone after something that could help them bring someone a world of hurt. And if Megatron gets his metal hands on it, its sure as apple pie that Prime and the other Bots will be first on his hit list."

"But you probably don't _all_ have to go," Raf turned from his own station to join in. "I mean, couldn't you just send a strike team." He didn't seem to believe the words even as he said them. "Someone should stay behind to keep the base running for when you, well you know . . . come back."

"It's doubtful we'll have any need to," Ratchet didn't even look up from the equipment he was packing. "We've located all the relics that remain on Earth, and all the energon mines have been sucked nearly dry. Our operation on this planet was never supposed to be permanent anyway, just on an as needed basis. We really don't have any reason to stay."

Miko turned to glare at the indelicate Bot. "Fine then! Rocket off to your big important war and

leave us puny humans behind."

Ratchet looked up in surprised, realizing how what he'd said might sound. "Wait, I didn't mean that-."

"It will be a great blow to all of us to leave this world," Optimus turned from his monitor to address the room, and both humans and bots fell silent in response. "We came here simply searching for a new hope to continue this war, and saw this planet and its inhabitants as simply the most recent battlefront in our long struggle."

The Autobot leader's gaze swept over the humans among them, and his normally stoic face bent with affection, taking on a look something like fatherly pride. "But we found more than just allies, or a place of refuge. Earth became our new home, and we discovered not only the remarkable courage and strength of its inhabitants, but also a new family."

Then the moment of tenderness passed, and Optimus resumed his normal look of grave determination. "But our war with the Decepticons seems no closer to a resolution. We must continue to oppose our enemies on any front they may appear, or Megatron and his followers may gain an advantage that will tip the balance. The Decepticons have returned to the stars to further their plans, and if we do not follow, the consequences could be fatal." Optimus razed his penetrating gaze to the opening in the top of the Autobot base, contemplating the worlds that lay beyond the clear blue skies. "And if Megatron can gain dominion over Cybertron, it will likely be only a matter of time before his evil spreads across the galaxy, to threaten other planets." His eyes came back to rest on the small natives they had all come to see as family, "Including this one."

There was no argument for the Prime's words, and after a moment he returned to his work. One buy one, the others did the same. The old missile silo of Omega One was filled with the new ship that would carry the Bots away from Earth. It was a strange looking craft, made up from bits and pieces of rockets that Agent Fowler had scrounged and pried from half a dozen government agencies, and Ratchet had testily latched and welded together. It would be a tight fit to get all of Team Prime on board with their equipment, and it wouldn't get them a fraction of the distance of a spacebridge. Ratchet said it would travel far enough to reach a "civilized" world, were they could make upgrades or trade it in for something better. Many on the team privately doubted it would even get that far.

Arcee had been less than private.

"I just want you guys to know that I'll miss you too," Smokescreen spoke to the gathered humans. "I mean, I barely had time to get to know you all, but I'm still going to be sad we didn't get the chance to do all the fun Earth stuff you guys did with the others."

"Well, it wasn't all fun and games you know," Ms. Darby replied from one of the platforms. "To be honest, when I first found out about the Autobots, I wasn't sure I wanted Jack or myself to be a part of it." She looked out at the room full of Bots and Humans. "But I guess at some point you guys just became . . . family."

As the final preparations were made, so were the final farewells.

"See if you can send me a message from wherever you end up," Raf handed Bumblebee a flash drive that was almost lost in the Autobot's massive hand. "Ratchet can help you figure out how to triangulate a message to Earth, and that program should ensure it gets to me no matter where I am." He kept up a smile, "I'll send you the family pictures we take every year, and the science projects I do in College."

Bumblebee responded with a series of whirs and buzzes that would have been unintelligible to any other human, but made Raf take off his glasses to rub tears from his eyes.

Bulkhead reached down and picked up Miko in his hand, lifting her up to wrap her arms as far as she could around his massive neck. "Take care of yourself Bulk," she sniffed back tears, "don't stop being a rockstar. Keep the Cons begging for mercy."

Bulkhead laughed at the girls bravado. "Don't worry, Miko, any Con who doesn't keep their distance is gonna find out what it means to deal with a Wrecker!" To prove it, Bulkhead turned his spare hand into a battle mace and put a Autobot fist sized dent in one of the nearby crates.

"BULKHEAD!" Ratchet shouted from across the room. "I NEEDED THAT!"

Miko looked passed bulkheads shoulder to glare at Wheeljack. "You watch his back Jack. If you let anything happen to him, your gonna have to deal with me!"

Wheeljack smiled back at her, "I wouldn't dream of it," he through her a mock salute, "Wrecker."

Jack walked over to Arcee starring at the ground and scratching the back of his head. "So I guess this is goodbye," he looked up at his guardian. "I'm . . . I'm really going to miss you Arcee."

The Autobot put on her best brave smile in response. "Take care of yourself Jack, and stay out of trouble," the emotion in her voice undercut her poise, "don't make me hunt you down."

The human boy did his best to smile back.

"All systems check out and diagnostics are clear," Ratchet announced, trying to sound a little more tactful than before. "Optimus, we're ready to launch at any time. We should probably go as soon as possible, while the sky remains clear."

"Then it seems it is time to depart," the Prime's words were gentle, but firm. "We should not delay any longer."

Fowler came down the stairs from the platform. "Just let me say once again that we are in your debt. Your service to this country, and this planet, could never be repaid. Just know that whatever happens, you will always have a home here on Earth." He stood straight, bringing his right hand to his brow in a crisp salute. "God speed."

None of the humans spoke as Fowler's car drove them out of the base. Miko sat with her legs drawn up, burying her face in her knees. Raf double checked the settings on his camera, he would only get one chance to take pictures of the launch. Jack just stared at the floor, while Ms. Darby put a comforting arm around his shoulder.

Once outside Fowler drove to the road and pulled over, and everyone got out of the car to turn and face the rock outcropping. "Nice day for a flight," Ms. Darby tried to brake the silence awkwardly, "They shouldn't have a problem." No one responded.

A dull roar began to come from the silo opening. It sounded like the rumbling of a human rocket, but with an electronic hum that alternated pitch erratically. The noise was dull at first, then without warning the rocket burst from the top of the silo, and the sound became deafening. The ship shot up like a cannon ball, rising through the air faster than anyone had expected. The humans only just recovered from the blast when the ship began to shrink, disappearing into the sky with its trail evaporating behind it. They all stood by the roadside, watching the skies long after the Autobots had vanished from sight.


	2. Chapter 1

**Here is chapter number two, time skip since the last one. It may be a few chapters before the Autobots show up again, but I'll try to keep things interesting until then.**

Sarak walked through the muddy streets of Newrise City, trying to move as quickly as possible without looking as if he was in a hurry. _City_ was a rather generous term, Newrise was a boomtown that was growing faster than the infrastructure could keep up. Not that it really had any civic government yet, just corporate security forces that had been stationed locally to enforce the minimum necessary public order to make the place stable enough to do business in.

The planet Carixes 4 was a new frontier, with no sentient inhabitants and no settlements older than five years. Although it was comfortably habitable by most intelligent life, its lack of any particularly attractive features, and the fact one would have to travel through several lifeless stars to reach it, kept it of the grid of interstellar travel.

Then green platinum had been discovered in one of the forested regions, and "civilization" arrived on the scene as fast as engines could carry it. Ships filled with equipment touched down on the surface and were immediately gutted of engine systems to be repurposed as stationary workshops. Cheap housing sprang up overnight as large container units were stacked one on top of another and filled with bare furniture made so fresh from local lumber the rooms stank of cut wood. The settlement attracted grizzled lifetime miners and newly minted fortune seekers, along with every possible business and entrepreneur that thought the real money would be in providing scarce amenities on a backwater world. Every kind of biologic and bio-mechanic lifeform moved through the cramped and unpaved streets, from hulking brutes to knee-high rodents.

 _Nothing at all remarkable about three travelers passing through,_ Sarak reassured himself. _Jorcoth will never find us here._ He quickened his step nonetheless.

Sarak and his two siblings were closer to the knee-high rank than they liked to admit. Known as Aundraites, they stood at five feet tall but still managed to attract attention with their hybrid reptilian mammalian biology. Built for swimming in the swamps and waterways of the lush green world of Jarpeth, their matted fur meant to insulate the scaly skin underneath served them well in the seemingly endless rain that had assaulted the settlement for the few days they had been their. Fur did not grow on their short fanged snouts or webbed four fingered hands tipped with blunt claws; those were both covered by leathery reptile skin. Tougher skin protected their webbed and clawed feet, and they did better walking through the rain-soaked streets barefoot than most beings did with specialized boots.

As Sarak rounded the corner to their current apartment, he came to a halt and flattened against the wall, peering up the street at two bio-mechanics that were just a few paces ahead of him. His stubby ears flattened against his furry scalp in apprehension, the short whiskers on his snout twitching nervously. The two beings approaching the apartment were ten feet tall, their metal a dark red, both carrying sizable looking sidearms. He had seen that model of weapon before in tech enthusiast magazines. They fired an electrical bolt designed to incapacitated victims, and though meant for bio-mechanics they could be used to nonlethal affect on most biologics.

Nonlethal, but extremely painful.

Sarak pulled out his communicator and frantically signaled his brother. For several moments the light on the device blinked before the no-reply chirp came. Cursing, smacking his rudder-like tail against the wall in frustration, he signaled again and sighed with relief when his still drowsy brother responded.

"Could you not find any candied shri-"

"SHUT UP," Sarak cut in with a hard whisper "Two of Jorcoth's thugs are about to walk right through the front door and snatch you two out of bed! You have to get out of their!"

He heard a scuttle of activity, and suddenly the sleep was gone from Marketh's voice. "We're on it! Tamara's here and we have everything ready to go, she's got your pack too."

Sarak sighed in a mix of relief and annoyance. Their older sister had insisted that they keep everything not immediately being used packed up, and nagged them into submission. She would never let them hear the end of this.

"We're going, out the window," Marketh whispered, "meet you in the alley behind the fish shop."

Then a curse came over the communicator, and a clatter of stacked gutters falling over came from the narrow space between their prefabricated apartment and the one next to it. The mechanical enforcers were almost to the door, but halted and immediately turned at the sound.

Without thinking Sarak moved out from behind the wall and gave a loud shout of surprise, as if he had only just arrived to see the two thugs. Spinning around he took of at a run, looking back just long enough to confirm that they had seen him and one was in pursuit.

He hunched forward and put on a burst of speed. Dodging between pedestrians and transports, he tried to keep his mental picture of the streets around him. He should be able to lose his tracker in the cramped lanes, then double back to find his siblings. He swerved to the side of a fruit stand and grabbed a light-post to slide on his feet around a corner without breaking stride. Glancing back to see his assailant had fallen behind, Sarak smiled and ducked into a side alley to head back toward the fish shop.

Cold metal wrapped around his throat in a vice grip, and he was lifted from the ground and slammed against the wall hard enough to drive the air from his lungs. Apparently the enforcer Bot had anticipated his move. Sarak found himself staring at the unmoving face-shaped visor of the bio-mechanic, its glowing eyes and open vocal hole making it resemble some sort of wailing demon. Two painted lines marred its face like scares, the symbol of Jorcoth's criminal organization.

"Idiotic rodent," its monotoned metallic voice spit insults from unmoving lips, "I'm going to peel the flesh from your bones."

"Please, please I surrender," Sarak did his best to make his voice quavery and his expression hopeless, the picture of defeat, "there's no need for that, I'll come quietly."

"Oh, that wasn't to make you give up," the Bot raised his other hand to his victims eyes, a sharp mechanical tool it its grip. "I never do a job without having a little fun to celeb-

Sarak slapped the small object he had palmed from his belt onto arm that held him. The device latched on, and the power pack released several hundred volts into the boi-mechanics circuit system. A high pitched mechanical whine pierced the air as its eyes began to blink an swirl erratically. Going stiff, it released its grip on Sarak's neck and then toppled backwards like a felled statue.

Sarak landed heavily on the ground and took several moments to to recover. The little device he had tinkered up as a possible defense against bio-mechanic bounty hunters was crude and inefficient; it probably wouldn't work against a larger being. Once used the connector circuits were burnt out, and couldn't be recharged without complete replacement. It also didn't really have a way to aim; he had gotten hit by several jolts himself.

Struggling to his feet, Sarak hobbled passed the incapacitated thug and on through the alleyway, ducking down lanes and across streets to reach the rendezvous with his siblings As his breath returned to him, the reality of what he'd just done hit him. _I defeated a professional criminal! It had thought I would be an easy mark and I left it lying in the mud._ He began to think up the exciting story he would tell Marketh and Tamara.

A few blocks away his cheerfulness was interrupted when a scream split the air, and he felt his insides drop to his bare feet. _Marketh_

Sarak took off again at a dead run, rounded one last corner and had to swerve to avoid being trampled by knot of fleeing pedestrians. The other bounty hunter stood ahead in the middle of the street. Marketh was trapped in its grasp, struggling and punching it uselessly. Tamara wasn't in sight, but the thug was facing a building, with a blaster held toward its captive.

The message was clear. Come out, or he gets it.

With out thinking, Sarak ran toward his brothers captor, pulling another shock device out of his coat. A crazy idea struck him as his feet squelched in the muddy street, and he managed to unclip his utility belt and toss it away without breaking stride. When he was no more than ten strides away, at the moment his terrified sister came out of the building, Sarak lunged forward and tucked in his limbs to slide on his stomach toward the bio-mechanic. His flew down the street as smoothly as a riverbank on his home world, and before anyone even registered his presence he was going past the enforcers legs and struck one hand out to place the device on one, before tumbling to a stop.

In this case the thug was so surprised he dropped him hostage before the shock started. The same ear-hurting sound came from the bot, but a different mechanical nerve must have been hit this time because it didn't topple over. Its head began to spin at the neck, its arms jerked erratically, and it fired its blaster randomly in the air. A few people watching the excitement from windows dove for cover, as the brute took several unsteady steps forward, dropped to its knees, then fell face first into the ground and went silent.

Sarak was on his feet immediately, running toward where his brother and sister crouched on the ground holding each other. He skidded to his knees and wrapped his arm around them both, and for a second no one moved as they held each other in relief. Then Tamara broke away and hit him in he shoulder. She didn't use her claws, but it was still fairly hard.

"YOU IDIOT!" Anger and relief were plain in her voice. "What were you thinking going after the thug like that! You could have been killed!"

"Hey," Sarak rubbed his shoulder in irritation. There wasn't more than two years between him and his older siblings, but they still seemed to treat him like a much younger child. "If I hadn't you guys would both be dead."

"You device worked!" Marketh sounded more surprised than he should have. "I though you said it wasn't ready?"

"I said it just wasn't tested," he replied. "But I used one when the other grabbed me, so I knew it would work."

"You got CAUGHT!" Tamara looked him over as if he might be hiding injuries somewhere. "You need to be more careful!"

"HEY! I'm not the one wh-

The bio-mechanic on the ground suddenly moved. The head twitched back and forth twice, and its claw-like hand raked across the ground close to the siblings.

The three went still and quiet for several seconds, but the being didn't get back up to attack.

"How long will it be down," Marketh spoke in a terrified whisper.

Sarak shook his head. "There's know way to know. I thought the other one was out permanently."

Another moment passed, then without talking the three of them rose from the ground and took off down the street.

* * *

After nearly an hour of running and riding across the chaotic sprawl of Newrise City, the three found themselves stopping in a bar right next to the large cleared field that had been designated the settlements main landing area. The building was constructed out of discarded pieces of ships, and the glowing sign above the door translated as _The Heap_. It looked like the kind of place space travelers might stop at, and with a little luck they would find a ship to carry them off planet.

"Camo cream root juice," Sarak announced to the bartender, "extra fizz."

The squat squinty-eyed avian sitting cross legged on a stool behind the bar nodded, and called in a chirping musical language to the multi armed robot servicing costumers farther down. "And for you two?"

"A ship," Tamara got right to the point. "We're looking for passage off world."

"The bartender raised one eyebrow to stare owlishly at them. "Where to?"

"Anywhere bu-, wherever there's work," She replied quickly. "We were working for a restaurant, but, well you see the owner had to leave the planet when he got a message his mother was dying. He closed the place and it doesn't look like he's gonna be coming back, so we need new jobs." She paused before adding in, "and we're looking to find it off world, we um, don't like this climate very much."

The bartenders eyebrow bent skeptically, "right, the climate. Do you have any money to buy passage? Rates are high you know, supply doesn't match demand."

Marketh gave him a smile that failed to look cheerful. "What's available in economy class?"

The avian stroked his double chin thoughtfully, then nodded. "If you want to skewer two fish on one spear, you might want to try those three over there." He pointed to a trio of aliens sitting in a booth across the room. "Apparently they lost some crew to the platinum rush, and are looking for replacements. The pay didn't sound very competitive, but their heading off world."

"Thank you," Tamara nodded,"we'll check them out."

Sarak put some of his few remaining coins on the bar and grabbed his drink as they made their way across the room. "You sure about this?"

"Well, unless something else comes up, what can we do," Marketh replied. We're out of options."

"But lets not let them know that," Sarak insisted. "We might be able to wheedle them into a better deal."

Tamara scowled. "Stop acting like this is some sort of game, we can't afford to stay on this planet any longer than we have to."

"Hey. I'm just saying that we shouldn't be afraid to try and work things in our favor. We won't get anywhere without taking a little risk."

She gave him that irritating I'm-older-I-know-more look. "I think we've already got plenty of risk for now.

The three aliens were all the same species, though the one on the left may have been a different breed, considering the streaks of color in her hair the others didn't have. They were medium sized biped organics, mammals with pale featureless skin and short hair. All three had translator pieces, basic devices used across the galaxy, adhered to the sides of their heads. Two of them seemed to be fixated on their digital devices. The tallest sat in the middle, poking at his food that was made out of a local rodent. Sarak wasn't an expert on alien behavior or expression, but the being didn't seem to find the dish very appetizing.

"Um excuse me," Tamara approached them respectfully, "we were told that you were looking to hire some more crew members. Is that true?"

"Um, yes," the alien in the middle stood up and extended a hand in greeting. "Thats right. You can call me Jack. I'm the, well, the captain. This is Miko," he gestures to the colorful companion to his right who waved enthusiastically, "and Rafael, though you can just call him Raf," the alien to his left adjusted a pair of glasses, his eyes seeming to analyze the three of them like they were lab specimens.

"I'm Tamara, and these are my brothers Sarak and Marketh. We were interested in finding work on a ship, or at least travel off planet captain."

"Well, have a seat," the alien gestured for them to grab chairs from the nearby tables. "And you can just call me Jack. Do you guys have any experience working on a ship?"

"Are any of you pilots," the colorful one, Miko, asked. "Can you fly a ship? What species are you? What's your planet like?" She raised her arms as if firing a blaster weapon. "Ever had a run in with space pirates?"

"Um," Marketh leaned away from the aliens outburst. "Not really."

"We're Aundraites, from the planet Jarpeth," Sarak replied.

"We don't really know how to fly a space craft," Tamara interjected "But we've all flown atmospheric craft before. And we all have other skills that could be useful."

"Who are you, if you don't mind me asking," Marketh cut in. "I don't think I've ever seen your species before."

"Thats not really surprising," Jack replied. "We're humans, we come from a planet called Earth. Its kind of out of the way, not many of us have gotten into space yet. So you said you had skills that might help us out on a ship?"

"Oh yes," Tamara replied. _She always acts like she speaks for all three of us,_ Sarak thought. "Sarak is an amateur mechanic, and he's pretty good. I use to train as a medic before-, aw well, we ran out of money for medical school. And Marketh is a pretty good cook."

"I wouldn't say I'm an _amateur_ mechanic," Sarak protested with annoyance. "I may not have gone to a trade school, but on Jarpeth I worked in a speeder shop since I was old enough to lift engine parts. There are a lot of things you learn best outside of schools."

Miko laughed and gave the alien a thumbs-up. "I like this kid."

"What did you guys do here before?" Raf gave them an inquisitive look. That seemed to be the only kind of look he knew.

"We came here because they were talking about higher paying jobs servicing the miners." Tamara responded before she or her brothers could be seen to hesitate. "But it's not that great and we really can't stand this climate. Apparently this rainy season is pretty long."

Raf absentmindedly adjusted his glasses. "You look like you'd be pretty at home in wet environment?"

The three aliens were stumped for a second before Marketh responded, "Yah, its the chill here. We're from a warmer planet."

"Oh," the humans voice was neutral.

After an awkward pause Tamara decided to get to the point. "So we're interested in the job, and we can start immediately.

"If you could just give us a minute to talk," Jack gestured to his companions.

"Of course," Tamara nodded and the three siblings got up and moved to a vacant booth farther along the wall.

"Well," Marketh started off. "This seems promising. We could do a lot worse than working on a cargo ship. And as long as we don't share a room with a pregnant ursus it'll be a big improvement over the cramped liner we came here on."

Sarak twitched his ears in annoyance. "Wish we could find a better crew though. I've never even heard of any planet called _Arth_ , it probably still runs on steam power!" He gazed skeptically over at their potential shipmates. "If you ask me, these guys seem like just a step up from hatchlings in a swamp."

"We're not exactly old enough for the hunt ourselves," Tamara returned critically.

"But at least we've seen a thing or two," Sarak insisted. "These primitives will probably fly us right into a scavengers den."

"We should still take it," Marketh said. "Every minute we're here is another that Jorcoth's thugs might turn up on our backs."

The youngest sibling sighed, rubbing the top of his head. "Yes, yes, I don't argue that." He glanced again over at the unimpressive looking aliens. "I suppose if we can go claw-to-teeth with professional bounty hunters we can keep these primitives out of too much trouble.

* * *

The three humans crouched together for their own private conversation.

"So, what do you guys think," Jack tried not to be obvious about glancing at their new candidates.

"We have to get _some_ help," Raf replied. "Since Arblus and Kranix weren't able to come we're just not as well prepared for space as we thought we'd be when we left home. I'm still figuring out the kind of engines and digital systems the ship uses. I mean, I'm pretty sure I can handle everything as long as its routine, but if something were to go seriously wrong . . ." Raf left that statement hang in the air.

"But should it be _these_ guys," Miko asked? "When we talked about hiring more crew, I kept picturing people who looked like _Star Trek_ extras. These weasel-lizard guys seem like they don't know anymore about space travel than we do."

"Even an amateur mechanic would be a big help." Raf insisted. "We've just got to much ship to handle on our own."

"And a few extra hands will help a lot for pretty much any job we get," Jack drummed his fingers on the table, then nodded. "Okay, if no one has any objections, we'll hire them."

"Do you think we should tell them we're looking for the Autobots," Raf asked hesitantly.

The three of them exchanged sheepish glances. Cybertronians had a mixed reputation across the galaxy. In the thousands of years since the war spread off their home planet, dozens of worlds had been caught in the crossfire. Some had been witness to the same brand of heroism the humans had come to know the Autobots for. Others had been devastated; either by the ruthlessness of the Decepticons, or Autobot teams allowing themselves to become careless in the fury of war.

In the months they had been in space so far, Jack had been doing his best to find all the information he could on the ancient conflict. It was a long, depressing process. He had always thought he appropriated how earnestly Optimus Prime had tried to prevent any human casualties on Earth. Now Jack knew that Optimus had learned that lesson the hard way, as well as the vivid details of just how bad things could have been without the Prime's resolve.

And the Bots had paid a price too. Some worlds had outlawed anyone from Cybertron, hunting down all offenders with extreme prejudice. More than one world harboring an Autobot base had been threatened into giving them up to the Cons in return for promises of mercy. Promises that weren't always kept.

"I don't know if that's a good idea yet, we don't really know anything about them," Jack replied.

"Then what do we do if we find the Autobots," Raf pointed out.

Jack sighed in thought. "I don't see that thats likely to happen anytime soon, we still don't haven't had one solid lead. Getting someone who's actually been around the galaxy a bit might help, but at the moment we're just striking out blind."

Miko raised an eyebrow at that. "And how would they help us find the Autobots if we have to _hide_ the fact we're looking for the Autobots."

Jack shrugged, "We be discreet about it. Ask, you know, indirectly. And I'm not saying we won't ever be able to tell them, just that we don't say anything until we get to know them better."

No one had any objections to that point, and Jack motioned their new friends back to work out the final details.

"Two-thirds of our profit in any given job will be put toward supplies and ship maintenance," Jack explained. "May be half on a really good haul. All the rest will be divided evenly between the six of us."

"You can also keep pets," Miko grinned. "As long as you clean up after them, and they don't try to eat us."

"Or parts of the ship," Raf added. He didn't sound like he was joking.

"We were planning to leave as soon as we finished eating, when's can you guys be ready," Jack asked.

Tamara gave him a smiled that only just masked her relief. "Whenever you are, the sooner the better."

* * *

"You said it was a cargo hauler," Sarak gave the craft a frank look up and down, "You didn't tell us it was for hauling smaller ships."

The vessel in front of them was bigger than anything that creatures the size of these humans could possibly need. It had the look of something built by hulking, and particularly unimaginative, biomechanics. Shaped rather like a large stretched-out brick, slightly angled at the front, with a solid cockpit and cargo-bay that gave way to a section of retractable individual containers of varying shape and size, followed up by a blocky engine. Its exterior seemed solid and strong but lacked any flare or decoration, and in flight it probably had more forward thrust than any kind of maneuverability.

"It wasn't built by humans," Jack replied quickly. "We acquired it from a planet called Lithon, the natives were anywhere from fifteen to thirty five feet tall. Wouldn't have been my first choice, but it was a really great deal." He patted the side of the ship affectionately. "We call it the _Jasper_."

Marketh was visibly disappointed. "Doesn't look like much."

Miko grinned at the other two humans. "Hence the name _Jasper_."

"The cost of keeping this up must be pretty high," Tamara commented.

Jack shook his head as they walked through a port side hatch into the cavernous cargo bay. "Um, not that much so far. It make look boring but its not that old. And even basic Lithon tech is apparently pretty good quality, we haven't had a major breakdown yet. And the size means the amount of cargo we can take on a job usually makes up for the expense."

"Gotta love the acoustics to," Miko stomped her foot on the floor several times to send echoes across the chamber. "I get a good sized amp in here, and I can get it going like a real rock concert."

"We did get our newest job because of the size," Raf added, "some mining company thinks they found a new deposit on the other side of the continent, they need a whole facility's worth of equipment moved out immediately."

Jack pressed a control on the wall that looked newer that the rest of the ship, and was positioned directly beneath a larger control that the humans would never have been able to reach. The bay door began to close with a mechanical rumble.

"So we're not actually leaving the planet," Tamara raised her voice to be heard over it. She tried to hide her apprehension at the news.

"Not until this jobs down," Jack replied. "But it shouldn't take more than an hour or two. The firm said they would handle getting everything ready to move, we just have to pick it up and drop it off."

"After that we are heading to another solar system," Raf added. "We got a tip about some University needing a big cargo hauler."

"Why don't you take them to see the crew quarters Raf," Jack suggested. "Me and Miko can fly to the pickup point fine. They can get themselves set up, then we can finish the tour after the jobs done."

"And take a look at the kitchen while you're at it Marcus," Miko grinned. "Soon as we're done I am going to teach you how to make sushi."

"It's Marketh," the alien replied bemusedly. "And what is sushi."

"The first of a long list of fine Earth cuisine you're going to learn to make." The human called over her shoulder as she and her friend headed toward the cockpit.

"Ah," Marketh gave her a smile that wasn't quite sincere. "I can't wait."


	3. Chapter 2

**They never give any details about the principles of non-bridge space travel in Prime, and I don't remember much from the other versions. I'm just going to be lazy and make it a hyperspace ripoff.**

"And since we're using equipment thats so much smaller, we need a more efficient power filter to prevent the circuits from being blown out." Raf readjusted the light strapped to his forehead and reached up to replace wires in the control desk interior.

"That should be fairly straightforward, "Sarak twitched his whiskers, which he had trouble keeping from rubbing against the mess of wires. "All the power lines on this ship are standard, so you'll only need to develop one design that you can apply it to all the systems."

"But we also have to make a reverse design," Raf countered. "Because some of the power flows go through the bridge and back out again, so it needs to be re-filtered back to bigger circuits"

They were both lying on their back, half in and out of the maintenance panel to a crew station on the _Jasper_ 's bridge. The "day to day repairs" that Sarak was assisting the human in had thus far proven to be a round the clock job.

Everything on this ship was too big. The bridge alone was the size of most houses on Jarpeth, and neither species would have been able handle the controls with any efficiency. After acquiring the ship the humans had installed new control seats and powered down the originals, but they still had a host of mechanical problems as the new smaller hardware had to be linked in to control the big ship systems.

"Maybe we're going at this all wrong," Raf announced. "The original controls needed to be hooked up to a power-cord each. But with the new stations needing less power, we could probably just run a single cord under the floor and hook all the stations to a single filter."

"It would probably simplify the process," Sarak nodded. "Easier to fix a blow out."

"But then they could all go down at once," Raf adjusted his glasses. "We should make at least one backup conduit."

Long and demanding though this job was, Sarak was beginning to enjoy it. At first he had feared that he would have to keep correcting an amateur mechanic, but the human was proving to be a natural with almost any kind of technology. Raf had some odd gaps in his knowledge, as if he had dived right into interstellar mechanics without ever taking a beginners course. He never had to be shown anything twice though, and once he understood a principle he could not only apply it, but improve it.

"I'll go run it by Jack, just so everyone knows why we're tearing up the bridge floor," Raf wiggled out of the space and dusted himself off. "Start working on the design for a filter in the meantime."

* * *

Marketh cursed as he stepped out of the door to his room, and a furry blur sped past close enough to nearly trip him. "Oh drown that little pest," he yelled as it disappeared around the corner.

"Oh its just a harmless pet," Tamara called from her bunk.

Marketh glared at her over his shoulder. "Ding Chi," was a small feline creature from Earth known as a cat. The troublesome creature belonged to Miko, and was just as inquisitive and impulsive as she was. More than once it had managed to get in their room without assistance, digging through their packs and batting objects around the floor for amusement. Marketh had complained the loudest about it, and latter found the vermin curled up on his pillow and shedding hair.

The humans insisted that cats were jut animals, but he suspected it was more intelligent than they realized.

The three alien siblings had moved into one of the passenger rooms down the hall from the bridge. There were enough spare bunks that they could each have had one to themselves; but none of them felt comfortable alone in the giant bio-mech sized rooms.

Looking over his shoulder for any further "attacks," Marketh made his way to the bridge, as the countdown to to their arrival approached its end.

By now Sarak and Raf had finished most of the maintenance, but they still hadn't covered the new cables running across the floor. The view screen was a blur of the fast moving streaks of stars running past the ship, as it accelerated through space faster than the speed of light. The screen was not an actual window, that would have created a dangerous weak spot in the hull. Instead it received video from monitors on the outside, with a high enough resolution that it looked absolutely real.

An alarm flashed at the pilots controls, interrupting Miko's air guitar. "Coming in on Tranis," she spoke into her communicator. "Wakey, wakey _captain_."

In his room, Jack stretched stiffly on his bunk, responding drowsily. "Okay, I'll call our potential buyer from my room, you and Raf don't forget about the satellite"

"Yah yah," she replied, switching off. "Raf," she looked up from her controls. "Go get the satellite launched."

"On it," he picked up his tool belt and left the bridge, at the same time Miko hit the brakes, bringing the ship to a dead stop.

Reaching its destination, the ship dropped out of light speed, the trail of streaming stars on the screen replaced by a field of stationary ones, surrounding the massive shape of a green and blue planet.

"What was that about a satellite," Marketh asked.

"Oh, we leave a small relay satellite in all the systems we go to," she replied. "We need it them to help send messages back to Earth, without having to wait a year for it to get there. Can't have my parents freaking because I went a week without calling."

She didn't mention that the satellites were designed by Agent Fowler's people in Unit E, and they were being distributed to help humanity learn more about other planets.

And their potential threats.

Pulling on a spacesuit, Raf went passed the cargo bay and into the wide hallway that connected it to the engines. Either side of the hall was lined with hatches that lead to the removable units on the outside of the ship. Raf stopped halfway down and entered one the size of a freight container. Inside it held a small launching mechanism, and rows of identical satellites, each about the size of a motorcycle and bristling with sensors and antenna. Raf used a mechanical claw built into the ceiling to bring the next satellite on to the launcher, then flipped the switch, opening a panel in the wall and sending it it out into space.

Back on the bridge, the doors opened with a _wsssh_ and Jack walked in.

"Alright guys we've got some work to do," he spoke to the assembled crew. "I just got a response from the people here looking to hire a ship, and we have to get ready to take on some passengers. Miko, take us in to the planet as soon as they send coordinates. Marketh, go get one of the spare bunks ready for about four people to sleep in it. The rest of you, follow me to the cargo bay, we've got to do a few things to get it ready."

Miko raised an eyebrow at him. "Who's staying in the cargo bay?

* * *

Megatron could easily have walked through the cargo bay hatch with room to spare, but the massive alien creatures needed to duck their heads as handlers coaxed and prodded them onto the ship. The cavernous bay had been prepared to take the two gargantuan beasts on a five day trip. All equipment had been moved to other parts of the ship, and the onboard temperature raised to keep them comfortable. Pads of artificial turf sprouting real broad-leafed bushes were spread out to provide food, and a water dispenser set up in one corner.

The alien animals were something known as a Great Lowlands Ectaz, and the pair had been acquired by a university of Bio-medicine on the planet Kriffera. Having been raised by a nurse, Jack could comprehend most of the medical jargon, and it turned out the creatures were wanted for a longterm experiment in refining their stomach mucus into specialized medicine. Jack made a mental note to avoid needing any medical treatment while visiting the planet.

The Krifferans who would be caring for them on the trip were an amphibious people, looking something like bipedal frogs, only with dry skin, short hind legs, and small mouths. The rather offended director had informed Miko that _no_ he didn't croak, and he also couldn't catch flies with his tongue.

With the handlers taking care of the last details, Miko walked around the cargo bay to get the best angle for a photo of the monsters.

"Gotta send these back home," she said to Jack. "Do you think they'll let use ride them."

"I don't know Miko," he replied with a smile. "Apparently their pretty tame, but not really what you would call domesticated."

She flashed him a grin. "Bet I can stay on longer than you!"

"They look like hadrosaurids," Raf commented speculatively. "Only with longer legs and four eyes." He noticed the uncomprehending looks of he friends. "Duck billed dinosaurs."

"If we're carrying mega-space-dinos, is this gonna turn into _Jurassic Spaceship?"_ Miko sounded excited.

"Well if it does, we always have Space _cat_ to protect us," Jack pointed at the furry shape of Ding Chi, prowling around underneath the two monsters with wide, fascinated eyes. Crouching down, he sprang up and latched on to the leg of the nearer ectaz. The beast didn't even notice the tiny cat, as it began to scale the leg like a giant tree.

"Something tells me these guys won't be any trouble," Jack said as Ding chi climbed with surprising speed to the top of the creature, sitting on its back to survey the entire chamber like a fluffy monarch. "We should have a nice, smooth trip for once."

* * *

Most of the crew were in the cockpit, enjoying the view of the expansive city spread out beneath them as they lifted off from the surface of Kriffera, rising slowly into the atmosphere.. They had spent the night planet-side, splurging some of their pay at an exotic restaurant. Miko had insisted on trying something that seemed to be the local equivalent of hot sauce. Tamara had to spray the inside of her mouth to bring the swelling down.

Early that morning, while Raf went to the city library for a "little study" in local technology, Jack had gone to an interstellar transport agency to look for their next job. Now, with word of a group of bio-mechanics in a nearby system looking to contract a large cargo ship, they had finally torn Raf away from the library and were heading out.

"How long is it going to take to get that smell out of the ship," Miko asked, flexing her fingers around the steering controls

"Raf is in the cargo bay right now trying to rework the air filters," Jack smiled at her. "If that doesn't work we may have to do some old-fashioned scrubbing."

The pilot grumbled under her breath as she steered for the giant floating station north of them.

Local ordinances required all ships leaving the planet to stop at an orbital station to be inspected for "unregulated" cargo, before being allowed to depart. Since they were leaving from one of the more heavily populated areas, there was a long line of ships stretching across the sky. As they approached the end of the line, another ship came roaring in from behind to get ahead of them.

"Oh no you don't," Miko flipped up the throttle and started banking in on approach. The other ship, a streamlined model less than half their size, with alien symbols painted on the side, gunned its engines too.

"That's an airspeed violation," Marketh remarked a little tensely. "Us and them."

Miko grinned at him, "do you see any cops around?"

Jack threw her a worried look. "Um Miko, its probably not a good idea to play chicken with a big chunk of flying metal!"

She scowled at him, "come on Jack, we can't just let some alien hotshot walk all over us."

Tamara was clutching the arms of her seat. "Won't it take a ship this big a while to slow down," she asked nervously.

Miko looked at the line of ships ahead of them getting closer and closer, and started reducing speed with a reluctant scowl. "Fine, let's pull into the senior citizens lane and let everyone with an attitude fly past."

"Somehow I think we'll survive Miko," Jack grinned at her.

The other ship flew past them, its pilot waggling the wings up and down in a way seemed mocking. Miko gave him some choice works in Japanese, apparently forgetting that everyone present had a translator that could understand it. Or just not caring.

Now directly in front of them, the other ship started to slow down and angle into position. Then something burst on its side. Metal panels flew off and flames spewed a trail of smoke through the sky as it stayed on course.

"Uh oh," Miko sat up straight in her chair and began to bank them farther from the other ship. "Hope they have insurance."

"Probably blew something," Sarak called from his diagnostics station. "More aggressive fliers like that often cut corners on mechanics and safety systems to reduce weight and expense."

The other ship continued hurtling on its pervious course, getting closer to the line of ships waiting at the station.

"Oh man," Jack stood up walked toward the view screen. "Their not slowing down fast enough!"

"Could be a control circuit is gone," Sarak watched the screen with growing dread. "They probably can't turn to good either."

Jack pulled out his communicator and signaled Raf. "Is that magnetic lock on the underside of the ship working."

"Um, it should be," Raf slid out of a maintenance panel in the cargo bay. "We fixed it up as we upgraded all the other systems. But we still haven't had a chance to tes-

"Power it up," there was no room for argument in Jack's voice. "Now!"

The last ship in line had seen the danger coming and was trying to move out of the way, flashing its lights and sending out distress signals. But it was an older model, and had to fire up its engines after hovering stationary. It couldn't move fast enough, and the runaway craft slammed into it.

They hit with a sound like two massive sledge hammers knocking together. The momentum of the first ship drove them both about a hundred yards forward. The racer had hit its victim off center, causing it to spin in the air. For a moment the two hung where they were, locked together by the impact. Then both ships began to undergo complete system failure, and as their engines weakened they started to slowly fall from the sky."

"Miko take us in," Jack pointed to the crash. "Raf," he said into his communicator, "we need to catch those ships before they hit the surface. You've got to be ready to grab them on the mag-lock as we pass by."

The "mag-lock" was a machine attached to the underside of the ship, that created an artificial field of magnetic attraction. At the control station in the cargo bay Raf grimaced as he began to power up the device. He could see the results of the collision on his own screen, and the mag-lock was not designed for this. It was meant to handle objects found in the middle of space or attach more cargo to the ship, not catch ships hurtling through the atmosphere. "I'll do what I can, but it may not be powerful enough to hold the weight of both of them. And probably not for very long."

"Do what you can," Jack peered at edge of the view screen. "Miko, that looks like the ocean north of us. Head to it as soon as we catch them, if we have to drop the ships we can at least do it away from any buildings."

Marketh and Tamara exchanged nervous glances. As much as they wanted to help, the _Jasper_ wasn't an emergency vehicle. And they weren't a trained rescue crew. Yet the humans seemed to have no hesitation at diving right into the thick of danger.

Sarak didn't share their concern. He was getting excited at the thought of a swooping down to the rescue, like a hero in and action drama.

The two ships were beginning to fall faster as their engines gave out entirely. A pair of emergence vehicles came speeding in from the orbital station, activating their own mag-locks to catch the disabled craft. The _Jasper_ s crew breathed a collective sigh of relief as the descent was brought to a halt. But the official vehicles were holding onto the upper ship, and after a moment the flyer that had collided with them broke apart again, and plummeted to the surface by itself.

"Miko!" Jack called, though she was already bringing them into a steep dive to catch the runaway ship. Propelled by engines as well as gravity, it took less than a minute for them to close the distance.

"Come on," Jack stared at the ship on screen, now so close to them that the proximity alarm he couldn't figure out how to turn off was blaring like an ambulance. "Come on Raf!" As the disabled craft slipped out of sight under them, an alert flashed at the diagnostics station. "Mag-lock activated," Sarak announced "Target established . . . we've got it!"

The ship suddenly shook violently, and with a sound like a massive construction vehicle rear-ending another the disabled ship stuck onto their underside. With a wild grin and a victorious _YAHOO_ Miko pulled back on the controls to brake their dive, taking their now even more lumbering ship on a wide arch back up and toward the distant water.

"Great job Raf!" Jack held his communicator to one ear with his shoulder as his hands worked the sensor controls. "Right on target." He somewhat awkwardly glanced toward Marketh. "Get on the com and try to contact someone about getting us some help. If I'm reading these right, there are multiple life readings onboard that ship, as well as pressure loss and an energy leak."

"Have you gotten a response from the crew," Tamara asked. In spite of her apprehensions, her medical training was starting to kick in.

Jack grimaced. "I should have thought of that, see if you can hail them."

"Helps coming," Marketh announced. "But all the first responders have already gone to the other ship, apparently they had a lot of passengers. It could take twenty or thirty minutes for anyone to reach us."

Tamara ground her teeth in anxiety. "The crew may not have that long."

"Are they responding," Jack was starting to feel overcome by the increasingly bad situation. "Are they responding?"

"I can't even get a connection!"

Jack starred at his monitor for several seconds breathing deeply to try to keep his thoughts straight. Then he spoke into his communicator again. "Raf, pull the suits out. We're going on that ship."

Raf began to think up multiple detailed scenarios where this could go horribly wrong. "Jack, I hate to say this but, this might be to much for us." He spoke in a hushed voice, even though no one else should have been able to hear them. "What about our mission? The Autobots need to know what we found. If something happens to us here . . . there's a chance help might arrive." He suggested weakly 'We could wait."

For a few seconds Jack paused. Then he quietly asked, "would Optimus wait?"

* * *

Sarak and Tamara had some difficulty fitting into their spacesuits. They had to ride the limbs up and tie them in place to keep from tripping, tails had to be tucked into pant legs, and their snouts were jammed painfully into helmets that didn't match the shape of their heads. "This is a bad idea," Tamara mumbled for the hundredth time as Jack jumped through the floor hatch and into the howling wind. "A very bad idea!"

The _Jasper_ was dotted with small hatches that opened through the walls to make exterior maintenance in space more convenient It would have been ideal to go through one in the cargo bay, but those were now blocked by the ship stuck to their underside, so they were working from one of the unused sleeping quarters.

The second Jack was out of the hatchway the wind sent him flying, but the strengthened alloy cable running from his suit to the inside of the ship caught him in nearly the same instant. He was slammed on his back against the underside of the ship, feeling like his ribs were bruised in spite of the protective material of his suit. Struggling against the g-force, he aimed his grappling hook launcher at an exterior hatch on the other ship, the mechanisms in his suit's gloves helping him to hold onto the tool. The recoil was harder than he expected, as the smart-adhesive tipped cable shot forward to stick against the hatchway exterior.

"Going in," Jack called over the com. He switched on the grappler rewind, at the same time Raf began to feed out more of the cable connecting him to the ship, and he moved forward. For about two minutes that seemed to last hours he was suspended in the air by two deceptively thin cables, underneath a giant flying hunk of metal, more than a mile above the planet's surface. _Mom would kill me!_

Doing his best not to think about his situation, Jack reached the side of the other ship. Lying flat against the hatch, he switched on the miniature mag-lock in his suit's chest, pinning him in place. With no small amount of trepidation, he slowly detached the cable on his suit, and reached up to lock it on to the hull above his head. "SEND IT," the order came out louder than he had meant it to. "Send the tube."

The merger tube was a standard issue piece of equipment on any ship, a flexible funnel of strengthened plastic that could create an airtight passageway from one craft to another regardless of the compatibility of their hatchways. The tube quickly threaded along the length of the cable, enveloping Jack entirely, changing the wind outside his suit from a loud howl to a low rumble. The synthetic material that made up the front of the tube morphed and molded onto the hull around the hatchway, creating an adhesive seal that was supposed to be as strong as a welding job. They were fortunate that whoever made this ship had been roughly human sized, the tube could completely encircle the hatch.

Jack deactivated his suit mag-lock and dropped to the floor of the tube, taking a breath before staggering back to his feet. The passageway held tight, but he couldn't get over the feeling that something this thin and flexible could not be very strong. And even though it wasn't visible any more, he also couldn't forget how very high up he was

Sarak and Tamara came down the tube behind him, the first with bits of mechanical equipment dangling from clips on his suit, the latter with the ships medical kit slung over her shoulder.

"Allow me," an excited Sarak squeezed passed him and attempted to open the hatchway. When it failed to respond he plugged in a small power-pack, and on his second try the door opened.

There was a hiss of escaped air as the door flew open; the ship had lost some of its pressure. Jack stepped inside cautiously, holding out a portable sensor in his hand. "We have two strong life signals, coming from the front and the left." He pointed to the left doorway, "I'll take that one, you two go ahead, thats were the larger signal is. Keep your suits on, the life support might fail suddenly"

The siblings rushed across the room and tried the door. Surprisingly it came open without difficulty. Smoke drifted out of the room beyond, and their nictitat membranes covered their eyes on reflex, even though they were safe inside their helmets. The smoke was not as thick as it first appeared though, this section of ship lights had no power.

The lights built into their helmets showed the room had four occupants, all amphibious Krifferans. Two lay on the metal grilled floor; one gasping for air like a fish out of water, the other disconcertingly still and turning blue. Another sat crouched against the wall, trying to hold a tear in her spacesuit closed with her hands. The last was slumped against a consul, weakly trying to adjust the controls.

Tamara rushed to the crouching crewmen and began using adhesive patches to close up her suit. Sarak ran to the consul, trying to make sense of the sporadic flashes on the monitors. "Have to reach the pod," the crewman was the only one high enough off the floor to be effected by the thin smoke; he seemed to be only half conscious, and failing fast. "Escccape pod in the center chamber . . . access way damaged . . . got tto reach the pppod."

Sarak threw one o the crewmen's arms over his shoulder, and tried to carry the heavy alien to safety. Tamara was now busy running her handheld sensor over the not breathing Krifferan on the floor, while the suited one was on her feet and rushed to help Sarak.

"Get him to the tube," he handed his load off to her and pointed through the doorway. "There's air coming in through the merger tube.

Sarak turned back to the console, and began running checks through the diagnostic system. Thankfully, the energy leak was going straight from the engine room and out of a tear in the ceiling, without contaminating other parts of the ship. The cockpit could be accessed from this room, but diagnostics indicated large sections of its hull had been damaged by the collision. There were no life readings.

The groan of twisting metal could be heard through the walls, and Raf's voice came over the suit coms. "The mag-lock doesn't have a hold on the front end of the ship, its starting to break off." In the split second Raf had had to grab the target, he didn't hit it dead center. With the back half now latched under the _Jasper_ , the damaged forward half was hanging out in the air, and starting to bend toward the planet's surface.

Sarak pulled up records on the diagnostic consul, and spoke urgently into the suit com. " We could save the ship! It has its own mag-lock mounted on the side of the cockpit. If I can power it up I could point it at the _Jasper,_ I canuse it to hold the ship in place."

"It'll likely just cause the ship to fold over toward us instead of fall off," Raf countered, "it wont do us much good."

"I can manually adjust the power so it is just strong enough hold the ship up," Sarak insisted.

Another groan rocked the ship, and Jack's voice came over the com. "Negative, that section will fall off any minute, and Miko has us over water now. It would be too dangerous to try."

Shaking his head in annoyance, Sarak turned down his com and glanced at Tamara, who was administering adrenaline shots to the fallen crew members to prevent them from going into shock. "I'm going to the front of the ship. I'll be back in a moment."

"Sarak," she looked up in alarm. "They said not to try it, its to dangerous!" She shouted the last part to his back, as he was already going through the passageway toward the cockpit. "SARAK!"

Wind whistled through the many cracks in the forward section of the ship, which bent and groaned around him. The corridor was already bent pointing downward at a steep angle, and Sarak half slid down it toward the cockpit. He crouched low, almost doubled over, in case a large piece of the wall suddenly flew off and he had to mag-lock his suit to the deck to keep from blowing away.

The door at the end of the passage was so mangled he didn't even bother trying to open it, but squeezed under a big gap between it and one corner. There was a large crumpled mass where the pilot's seats should have been, and Sarak tried not to think about what must have happened to the pilots in them.

He found the mag-lock controls at one of the rear stations, and began to activate it. The cracked screen blurred several times before coming into focus, with the readings indicating it was at less than half-power and charging. _Just a minute or two,_ he told himself, _it'll be worth it to save a whole ship rather than half of one_.

Another groan came from the passageway he had left, he only spared it a passing glance before going back to the controls. Then the ship lurched violently, and with a screeching tear the whole forward section fell downward, so that only a few pieces of twisted metal kept it connected, hanging almost perpendicular to the rest of the ship. Sarak lunged for the edge of the crumbled door and managed to grab it, desperately clawing his way up and into the dangling corridor, his previous bravado forgotten

Sarak began to claw his way up the wall, which fortunately had the same rung of handholds that most ships did for use in the case of gravity loss. He moved faster and faster as the hallway shook from buffeting winds, rocking back and forth to further strain the few beams still holding it on. He was only a few feet from the top when a final groan ended with a metallic snap, and the front half of the ship was torn off completely.

"No," Sarak's mind went blank for a long moment that seemed unreal, then he felt himself begin to plunge toward the surface. "NO!"

He clung to the side of the wreck and closed his eyes, unable to form any thought through his pure terror. Then less than an instant after he began falling he was torn from the wall, and the piece of ship he had thought would be his coffin fell passed him, and he was blown sideways by the wind. A cable had appeared latched on to the shoulder of his suit, and it ran straight to the broken opening of the half ship still locked to the _Jasper_. Jack was leaning out into the air, his suit clipped into the wreck's wall as he held his grapple launcher tightly in both hands. He began to slowly real the still shocked Aundraite in.

Sarak hung limply in the air, and had trouble getting his feet under him upon reaching the opening. Jack more or less dragged him in, and out of the howling wind back to the room they had entered the ship in. Tamara was on him in an instant. She flipped the visor on his hemet up and held his face close to hers. "Are you okay? Was your suit torn?" She peered closely at his eyes to check for lack of response. "Did you take a blow to the head?"

"I-I I'm fine," the dazed mechanic responded, still coming to terms with his near death experience. "I'm just . . . fine."

Tamara touched her forehead to his, holding it there for several seconds. If she'd had tear ducts, she probably would have cried. "Thank the stars," she mumbled quietly, before she jerked her face back up, and the desperate relief on it was replaced by outrage. "BECAUSE I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"Hey," Jack stepped between the two. "We're not done here." He indicated to the six remaining crewmen that shared the room with them, the four they had rescued and two he had. "How are the crew doing?"

Still visibly livid, Tamara let go of her brother to turn back to her work. "They're all stable. A few broken bones and some lung damage, but professional treatment will take care of it.

"Jack," Miko's voice came over the suit coms, "we finally have an ambulance vehicle on its way. Close the hatch so Raf can reel in the merger tube, their going to attach their own right to you."

"On it," Jack sealed the hatch and leaned against the wall. "Did the part that fell off hit the water?"

"Yep. Pretty sick splash, but no damage."

"Good," with the emergency coming to an end Jack was starting to feel worn out. "How is the mag-lock doing?"

"Holding fast," Raf replied. "We had a near loss a few times when the power feed fluctuated, but with a lighter load now we should be okay."

Mechanical sounds began coming from the sealed hatch, which a moment later opened for a team of Krifferan medics.

"Give use room," The first one gestured for them to back away from the rescued crewmen, as his team immediately got to work. "We have to get these people unto our own ship to begin diagnosis for injuries immediately."

"The one on the left needs to go into a scan-pod first," Tamara used the same official and authoritative voice as the medics reflexively, falling easily back on her own training. "He inhaled the most smoke and could face lasting lung damage if not treated soon."

The Krifferan blinked in surprise. "Yes, thank you." He repeated the instruction to his team, then turned back to the rescuers. "Which one of you is the captain?"

"I am," Jack stood up straighter.

The medic held out his hand to shake Jacks. "I want to tell you we are very grateful for your assistance. If this ship had fallen into the city, it could have cost a lot of lives." He brought his fists to either shoulder, which Jack took to be this species' version of a salute. "You really saved the day; and that was some really gutsy action for civilians."

Jack gave him an innocent smile. "Well, we try to do our best."

 **In case you were wondering, Ding Chi's breed is a Japanese Bobtail.**


End file.
